Listening

April  29, 2012

All through my life I have let pride, stubbornness, and other nonsense get in the way of good thinking and positive actions. Today was no exception. We just returned from a wonderful week in Utah County. Jean, Diane, and Kaye went to LDS Women’s conference and were inspired to do the kind of things that would help them be better parents, better spouses, and better people. We had planned to stay several more days, taking in grand parenting at its best, enjoying friends and relaxing; however, Jean broke a tooth on the last afternoon of the conference so we wrapped things us and came home. We arrived in Toquerville about 9:00 pm. Jean was feeling very ill and said we needed to just take in what we needed and park on the street until morning when we could put the motor home to bed.

She got her night stuff out and went to bed. This is where the listening thing comes into play. I said to myself, I can just pull up and get it off the road like I have done before. No harm, no foul. Wooooops! I got the mh stuck on the driveway and there it sat until after church when several fine men came over and assisted me in getting it pulled out of the driveway and onto relatively flat ground. I am not going to spell out the moral to this story because it is so clearly evident.

Church was marvelous. Two ladies and a young lady spoke about love, sharing, caring, and generally doing what our Heavenly Father has asked us to do. Each shared very personal, spiritual experiences in their life when they had been blessed by listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and acting accordingly. I truly felt like I was in the midst of angels. In Sunday School we learned more about what we are supposed to do when we have our Savior in our lives; how we should teach our children; how we should share our love for the Savior by example.

We had another incredible meeting in which we talked about addictions. The Bishop did an excellent job of helping us understand that we each have “challenges” on which we need to work. He didn’t criticize anyone. Rather, he gave counsel that we should pony up to our blemishes and resolve the issues we have personally. The Bishop reminded us that our ultimate goal is to return to God’s presence and enjoy eternal life and exaltation as families. Addictions of all kinds whether they be sexual, pornography, drugs, alcohol, or a myriad of others can be eliminated from our lives so this great blessing can come to fruition. We all need help in assessing and working through our own personal “hell”.

Talk to your loved ones. Listen to their counsel. Pray and study that your life can be all that you expected it to be when you came to earth. The bishop used his family as the example. He said that clear communication and listening was the key to keeping ugliness out of our homes. I don’t want to wear out my favorite scripture, but I will use it again and again because of its powerful message to me, personally. Moroni 10:32; “Come unto Christ and be perfected in him and rid yourself of all Ungodliness. . .”

God bless you in your efforts, in your trials, and in your many wonderful life experiences.

Duane Jacobs, Grandpa, popsa, brother, cousin, Uncle, and friend.